With friendships over the years I have found out how important it is to show up for your friends and to be there for them. I have come to find out that one of the worst feelings is feeling like your friends aren’t there for you or they do not show up for you in the same way that you show up for them. Learning to deal with the feeling that not everyone in your life might care about you in the same way you care about them is a tricky thing to realize. It is obvious that everyone has their own things going on in our lives, and we never really know what is going on in the lives of our friends unless we make an effort to ask or be there.
Personally, something I have always tried to do is to make an effort to check in with my friends and let them know I am thinking of them and let them know I am here for them if they ever need anything. Not every situation or conversation has to be a deep and emotional, but it is nice to check in with our friends here and there, especially if we do not get to hear from them or see them a lot.
Making time to grab dinner or have a phone call when we have the time is also incredibly special. Another essential part to being a good friend is being considerate of the things they might need when they are struggling. Sometimes people need someone to vent to, or someone just to listen. Sometimes people need someone who will give them advice when they are feeling lost. Sometimes someone might be having a really hard day because of something personal and they just need someone to remind them that they are cared for or someone is thinking of them.
These things can have a lasting impact, something I constantly think about is how when I was going through a really hard time a few of my friends all chipped in to send me flowers and a weighted blanket and it reminded me that real friends show up for you when you really need them.
There have been other times where I had just felt forgotten by my friends in general and then one text, or one phone call made all the difference and reminded me that I might be more important to my friends than I feel sometimes.
There can be a lot of doubt in our minds when it comes to wondering if our friends care about us in the same way, and the best way to show the people in our lives we care about them is to just be there, and care, and show up for them when we can.
It is also incredibly important to be mindful that sometimes people are focused or caught up in their own lives and cannot always run to be there for everyone. This is okay, as long as the effort and showing up is equally reciprocated throughout the friendship.
Being there and having the capacity to care is just so simple and easy.
Even with our own hectic lives, it takes nothing out of us to just check in and remind our friends how important they are because it could have a lasting impact.
